Ana Maria Hufton of Flint prepares to vote at Pierce Elementary School. The special recall election of Mayor Woodrow Stanley may herald the temporary end to Flint's self-governance.

FLINT-The people of Flint voted to end the decade-long tenure of Mayor
Woodrow Stanley March 5 over a $30-million deficit (now estimated at $38
million), high unemployment, and a crumbling infrastructure, all blamed on
Stanley. But it was the Flint City Council that blocked his efforts to privatize
and to deploy a portion of the city pension fund surplus to pay other
obligations.

In the fall of 2001, Mayor Stanley opened bidding from private contractors to
provide refuse collection and disposal in the city, and invited city employees
who collected refuse for Flint to competitively bid for the contract. Despite
being granted some competitive advantages, the bid city employees submitted was
the third highest of the four submitted. When Stanley recommended privatization
to the Flint city council, it voted 9-0 against.

Stanley helped Flint avoid receivership last summer and worked out a plan
with the state of Michigan for reducing the city's deficit. He even openly
discussed privatization of such things as the city golf courses, building
inspections, and the demolition of derelict housing.

Now that the mayor has been removed from his position, what might alternative
leadership propose for solving the city's problems? More taxes-Flint new mayor
will take over with a terrible lesson clearly in mind: Don't try to shrink the
size of municipal government. Since higher taxes are often the path of least
resistance, they will probably be offered as the short-term solution to Flint's
woes. This will only make matters worse, which is why state appointment of an
Emergency Financial Manager for Flint is becoming more and more likely.

Editor's Note: As MPR went to press the Flint city council voted 9-0
against privatizing the Flint IMA Sports Arena for $500,000 plus $3.5 million in
renovations over the next ten years. To the city council's great credit the
offer was rejected in part because there were no competing bidders invited to
make offers on the property. The council appears willing to entertain future
privatization attempts, provided the bidding process is opened up to other
interested parties. Attempts at privatizing this arena, in some fashion, have
been made since 1999, when the owner of a semi-pro hockey team, the Flint
Generals, offered to manage the building. The 1999 deal would have meant an
extra $250,000 annually to city coffers, plus 25 percent of all new revenues
exceeding $1.9 million.